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From the very beginning, retail stores were intended to both be a showcase for the company's products and a place where communities would form. But until now, we've only known about the success of the former goal, and not the latter. Indeed, the retail stores generated $4 billion in profits on sales of $20.2 billion during fiscal 2013. But how many of the stores' 395 million visitors during the year were actually paying customers? During an appearance last month at a speaker series organized by Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, former Sr. VP Retail Ron Johnson answered that question, and discussed his early career, the birth of Apple's retail stores, and his ill-fated time as J.C. Penney's chief executive.

Johnson appeared for 50 minutes as part of Stanford's "View From The Top" speaker series that's included Oprah Winfrey, retired U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal and General Motors president Mary Barra. He was modest about attending Stanford, and admitted to being a better athlete than student. He attended Harvard Business School, where he became fascinated by the retail case studies presented in classes. After graduation Johnson briefly worked for an investment firm, but then joined retailer Mervyns. He turned down an offer to work in a headquarters office, instead taking a loading dock job to better learn how every level of the company operated.

In 1990 he transferred to the company's newly-formed stores, and in 2000 was recruited by Steve Jobs to create a retail operation for Apple. He became close friends with Jobs, and said his enduring business lesson from the relationship was, "You have to be willing to start again." Johnson retold the story of how, at the last minute, Jobs tossed out the final store design at Johnson's suggestion, because it didn't encompass the "digital hub" concept Apple was promoting at the time.

Johnson said being completely in charge of the retail store project—and being trusted by Jobs—brought out his creative talents, which had been hidden until then. "Everyone is a creator," he told the audience, "and everyone is creative."

From the beginning, Johnson wanted the stores to be located where people were already walking and shopping. That meant leasing spaces at the most up-scale and high-rent shopping malls. He then wanted to attract people inside the stores using a combination of broadband Internet access, rare in 2001, and an on-going schedule of in-store activities. Visitors could check their email and surf the Web at the then-blazing speed of 1.5 Mpbs. They could also take classes, attend presentations, receive Genius Bar technical help or just hang out with fellow Apple enthusiasts. Even today, Johnson said, people go to the stores, "just to go. They don’t go to buy. There are so many reasons to come."

In fact, Johnson revealed for the first time that just one of every 100 visitors to an Apple store makes a purchase. The other 99 are presumably heading to the Genius Bar, checking out new products, retrieving their email, tagging along with friends or relatives, or attending a training session or live music event.

For those who follow Apple's financials, that 1:100 ratio is even more amazing. Based on that figure, just 3.95 million visitors were paying customers during fiscal 2013 and, incredibly, their average purchase was $5,114. Now, that figure is skewed upward by a combination of non-visitor sales, including those made from the store-specific Web sites, business purchase orders and other sources of orders. Nevertheless, that's a rather small, loyal group of Apple store customers and an amazingly high per-purchase average.

Both figures—Apple store visitors and paying customers—are completely illustrative of the company's command of retail. The stores have created communities of enthusiasts for the stores everything that technology empowers, including art, music, writing, games and social networking. But the stores have also created buyers who appreciate being able to see, handle and use the company's products before handing over their money. It's a combination that few other retailers have been able to duplicate.

Want to contribute revenue to the retail segment or your favorite Apple store, but also want to make your purchase on-line? Just surf to the store's individual on-line Web page. The URL is constructed: